Minutes of the General Assembly 2014

I N T E R N A T I O N A L A S S O C I A T I O N O F S T U D E N T S I N

A G R I C U L T U R A L A N D R E L A T E D S C I E N C E S

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57th World Congress Ames, IA USA

Report of the General Assembly

13th-31st July 2014

Written by: Secretaries elected by the General Assembly

Omar Guerrera (Mexico) Siti Nisrina Hasna (Indonesia)

Cleophea Michelsen (Switzerland)

Compiled by: Mikayla Sullivan (United States) Reviewed by: Teresa Lazzaro (Italia) Genna Tesdall (United States) Ratih Nawangwulan (Indonesia)



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Wednesday 16th July: Opening of GA & Membership Review Appendix 1: Welcome to the 57th General Assembly.ppt

9:20 Genna Tesdall, IAAS President, made the opening speech of General Assembly. 9:23 Teressa explained the overview.

9:28 Election of Chairs and Secretaries Election as Chairman: Lucas Marin Elected as Vice Chairman: Damien Tschopp Elected as Secretaries: Cleophea Michelsen, Siti Nisrina Hasna, Omar Guerrero, Mikayla Sullivan All chosen with 17 votes.

9:35 Membership review

Credentials for each country: frozen/full/candidate Full - active, Candidate - no vote, no dues, Frozen - no vote, no dues, no events Australia – out with 11 votes. It was established in Adelaide, but there is no contact anymore. Melbourne is willing to establish the new chapter. Indonesia is happy to assist. B&H – 17 votes candidate. Belarus – 12 votes full. Discussion about cancelled EDM due to political reason. Motion by Miguel (Spain): Wants Belarus to pay as they did not hold the EDM. Steven (Belgium): What happens with the money from fundraising? How much? Yahor (VP Finance): An amount of 450 Euros, still needs to be returned. A lot of donations were material goods. [Q:] How many members? Yahor: It’s complicated. Motivation dropped very low after the failed EDM. [Q:] Is paying the membership fee a problem? Yahor: Yes, but we can discuss that later. Switzerland: Does not agree with making Belarus pay the membership fee. Motion of Miguel passed with 11 votes. Belarus has to pay half of their membership fee. Belgium – 17 votes full. Benin – 11 votes frozen. Membership has not been paid. Canada – 17 votes full. Situation: The club membership is not officially recognized at the University and there is the issue of the club being sued by the university for using their logo without permission. Note: it will be encouraged of Canada to become in full good standing with their university, but no mandate was made by the GA because their association is found to be legal in Canada



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Chile – 17 votes full. Côte d’Ivoire – 17 votes full. Held ADM. Received no money from the development fun, as their application has not been approved. They made the impression of not being a legal member affiliated with a University, but did a good job in organizing ADM. Skype meeting did not clarify the situation. Croatia – 17 votes full. Czech Republic – 10 votes frozen. No membership fee has been paid. Motion from Teresa: They have until November to pay. In November a vote will be held to change their status to full if payment has been made. Motion passed with 17 votes. Note to EC.CC: Speak with them in exchange week in Slovenia. Finland – 16 votes full. France – 17 votes full. Lisanne (Belgium): No recent contact, no participation in international events. Georgia – 17 votes remains candidate. Second year of being a candidate. Germany – 17 votes full. Ghana – 12 votes for candidate. Frozen last year. 150 Euros dept. New people are in charge of IAAS Ghana and seem very motivated. Damien: we should give them a defined amount of time to get their things sorted out and pay. Teresa: Instead of excluding them, restart with a new candidacy. Motion passed with 12 votes. Greece – 17 votes full. Guatemala – 16 votes frozen. No membership fee paid. Situation: They have no money right now, and have been frozen for 2 years but they want to continue. They have 40 members but no partners or support from their university. [Q:] Are there any activities or plans how to raise the money? [Q:] How about the members and the next generation? Ratih: We have to reconsider again because Guatemala has made an effort to come to WoCo and even ISAF 2013 in Indonesia. Motion: frozen until they pay. Motion passed with 16 votes. Indonesia – 17 votes full.



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Italy – 17 votes full. Japan – 17 votes remains candidate. Second year of being candidate. Malta – 17 votes out. It is the 2nd year of Malta candidacy but there has been no contact anymore with them. Mexico – 17 votes full. Nigeria – will be decided later. See Membership Review part 2. Pakistan – 17 votes candidate. Poland – 17 votes full. Portugal – will be decided later. See Membership Review part 2. Russia – 17 votes full. Serbia - 12 votes frozen. Teresa: Serbia has to pay membership fee until the end of WoCo. Motion passed with 16 votes. Slovenia – 17 votes full. Spain – 11 votes frozen. Motion from Teresa (Italy): Unfreeze Spain after the WoCo upon paying membership dues. Motion passed with 17 votes. See Membership Review part 2. Sweden – 17 votes full. Switzerland – 17 votes full. Tajikistan - 17 votes full. Thailand – 17 votes full. Last year was frozen. Togo – will be decided later. See Membership Review part 2. Ukraine – 17 votes full. USA – 17 votes full. Venezuela – 17 votes full.

1. Candidate Membership –

Appendix 3: Candidate members’ presentation



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Kenya Nepal Niger All 3 approved with 17 votes.

2. Fundraising Training

Summary of the training:

Identifying audience

Set sponsorship levels

Communicate

Follow up

Cultivate relationship with sponsors and non-sponsors

Provide sponsor visibility

Post-event follow up

Thursday July 17th: EC/CC Final reports & Financial Report & Amendments

1. EC/CC Final Reports Appendix 1: EC&CC_Final_reports.pdf 9:30 Lisanne (Belgium): Why did the EC give Konstantinos such a good review if he did not complete work as expected. Teresa (CC Member): Gave some background to Lisanne and stated the topic will be discussed later during GA. 9:35 Genna (President): Presents the EC final report. Trying to reach Ara (VP Exchange) via Skype to present her final report slides. Connection cut off. Emilie (VP Sponsorship) reads the report for Ara, calling her later to ask her questions. Sebastian (Chile): With all respect to you Ara, I think you made a good effort, but we had a lot of communication problems this year. We could not access the exchange database to provide our members with the opportunities to go to other countries. Emma (Indonesia) is going to translate Ara’s responses because of the bad phone connection. Ara’s response translated from Emma: I made an effort to reach Sebastian, but we had problems because of the different schedules. Ara made a group on FB and invited Sebastian but he never responded. Ara contacted Lucas (Chile) but the different time zones was a problem. Sebastian: We got an email from them but it was too late to complete the exchange requirements on time. Sebastian states that he asked Ara for a database in order to send people from Chile to exchange in other countries. But they never received an appropriate response from Ara. Steven (Belgium): I had a good contact with Ara. I think she did a good job. She sent us information about the farms we could into an exchange with. Lucas: Maybe because of the time zone Steven had a better communication with Ara but the Chilean committee did not have efficient communication with her.



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10:07 Genna presents her final report as President. Raith (Indonesia): Have you made the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). Genna: Yes I have, I can send you a copy if you need one. Comments from (Chile, Mexico and the CC) to thank Genna for her great work this year. 10:23 Emilie presents her final report as VP of Sponsorship. Lisanne (Belgium): What was the purpose of developing the relationship with the partners is it about quantity or quality? Emilie: I tried to find opportunities that fit the needs to all our members; to expand the exchange program and to have a good and broad horizon of partners. Lisanne: Can you tell us any substantial benefit any of these partners have provided to us? Emilie:… Miguel (Spain): At the beginning of the year you promised a lot of sponsors, we see you contacted 51 companies which is good but wouldn’t it be better to make a strong link with fewer companies to start a big project instead of reaching so many. Emilie: Fundraising is something really difficult, there was not much work done when I started my work with IAAS so I started to build a network of contacts. And we can expect to see the amount of money from sponsors rise in the next few months. Federico (Italy): IAAS Italy thinks you made a lot of work and covered a lot of responsibilities. We can understand that you had to do some of the work of Konstantinos and we are grateful for that. But we think that the main priority for IAAS is getting money from sponsorship so we think that spending time to cover the work of Konstantinos drained you from the energy to do an even better job of raising money. Summarizing we are really grateful for your job but we think it’s frustrating that this year not even one euro was deposited into the IAAS account from sponsors. Emilie: I understand I should have done a better job at such an important part of the IAAS organization but I can also say that I had to work alone. So I understand the frustration of the EC because they had to work with a short amount of money. Lucas (Chile): Just one sponsor in 5 years, it’s not possible it’s an organization problem. We must make an effort to try to sell ourselves more, to try to get the sponsors and the money we need. If we need to change something we should do it now, because this cannot continue this way. Emilie: I think a big problem for IAAS world is the track record, and also the webpage; it’s like our presentation card and I personally find it to be horrible. So, I think this was a great obstacle when trying to do my job. Lisanne: You said you had no board members, but I would like to remind you that I was part of your board. Emilie: The comment about having no members was about the second half of the term after Konstantinos left. 11:03 Yahor presents his final report as VP of Finance Yahor: Good relation with bank in Leuven, Information about income and expenses on request. Next year tax report will be required as legislations will be changed. Numbers shall increase about 20% as the year has not been finished. Sebastian (Chile): What is the difference between the income and the expenses? Could you explain it in numbers? Yahor: It was better than the past year. … Federico (Italy): I want to remark that IAAS spent 600 euros to bring Konstantinos to EDM. 11:23 Konstantino will be represented by Teresa from the CC Konstantino did not provide anything to prove his work or excuse his lack of work.



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Miguel: Spain would like to propose a reduction in the salary for Konstantinos to zero because he stopped working after EDM, and did not take his job seriously enough. Genna: He was very involved before EDM when he worked. Emilie: I think Konstantnios always felt overwhelmed by the amount of work he had to do. Federico: proposal from Italy committee There is discontent from the Italy committee because one of its members had also been a candidate. But he wasn’t elected because he could not speak enough English. Lucas: When Konstantinos stopped working the communication of the organization was really bad. And Chile thinks that if you apply for a position you should do your work. Teresa: I would like to add before the voting in a neutral way, that half of the salary has already been paid to Konstantinos so the 600 euros he has already received should be given back to the European Union. Cleophea (Switzerland): We should discuss the feasibility of getting the funds back because they were paid 6 months ago. Yahor: If Konstantinos cannot pay back the money IAAS would have to pay the money back to the EU. Lucas: I think that Konstantinos could get half of the money because of the work he did before but also we could give him zero as a sanction because he just left. …. Emilie could retrieve Konstantinos report for half term it was shown to all present members before voting. Federico: Italy agrees that the Spanish motion is canceled, but there should be a precedent that the EC member who does not fulfill their obligation should not be grated their salary. Motion to approve the GA report for the EC 17 votes approved. Voting to accept Genna’s final report and CC suggested salary of 100 percent. 17 votes approved. Voting to accept Yahor’s final report and CC suggested salary of 100 percent. 17 votes approved. Voting to accept Ara’s final report and CC suggested salary of 100 percent 15 votes approved. Italy motion: To reduce Emilie salary from 100 to 75 percent because the total income of the organization was zero euros. Motion voting: 10 votes approved. Voting to accept Emilie’s final report 14 votes approved.

1. Financial Report Appendix 1: Financial_Report.pdf

Yahor presents the Financial Report. Italy motion: Those countries that organize events should not have to pay the membership fee. 17 votes approved. 13:43 Yahor answer questions about the financial report. Lucas: States that no money was sent from Chile to IAAS World. Sebastian: They received the solicitude to get into IAAS and get into the Exchange program. Lucas: Chilean IAAS politics does not allow non-members to participate in an exchange. Steven: The constitution states that in order to participate in the exchange program the person must not be a member just a student of agricultural sciences and agricultural sciences.



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Sebastian: We have responsibility for the people we sent into the exchange program so that’s why we ask them to register with our IAAS group. Lisanne: In the case of Belgium they just need to be students to go on exchange. 2:02 Steven: Is the fee for going into exchange 75 or 106 Euros because the constitution and Ara’s email are not the same. Federico: Why did Canada just paid 300 Euros? Yahor: Steven: Also Belgium got a reduction in the fee but it was reflected only in the invoice not in the brochure. 2:06 Voting to discuss the out of time amendments. 17 votes approved. 4:08 Voting to elect the 3 members of the election committee. 17 votes, approved.

2. Proposal for Amendments

14:00 Amendments 1 Exchange program participant Limits Proposer: Damien (Switzerland) Voting: Amendments 2& 3 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Miguel: Why would you like to take out Spanish from the text of the Constitution? Alexandra: At this time it makes no sense to state that the second working language of IAAS world is Spanish. Amendments 4 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Genna: It would be better to change it so people can send amendments just before the GA starts. Amendments 5 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Amendments 6 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Amendments 7 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Amendments 8 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Amendments 9 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Amendments 10 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Teresa: I think it not a good idea to put this in the Constitution, it should be left to the local committees if they want to do this. Amendments 11 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland)



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Lisanne: It will be good to suggest the amount of time you need to spend at your duties, but not in the Constitution. Perhaps this suggestion could be added in another document. Teresa: It will be impossible to track if the person is actually working that amount of time. Genna: Working at IAAS is not an hours job you work until the work is done. Amendments 12 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Teresa: In this proposal zero remuneration should be considered if the EC member did not fulfill his/her obligations. Francisco: Also it should be stated that if the person leaves its position at any time during their term they should get 0 percent of their compensation. Amendments 13 Proposer: Alexandra (Switzerland) Amendments 14 Proposer: Amendments 15 Proposer: Emilie (Canada) Amendments 16 Proposer: Teresa (Italy) Lucas: What happens if seminars are made just to avoid paying the fee? Federico: The amount of money needed to just make a seminar is very different from the one needed to make the WoCo or ExCo Meeting. These events also have a broader reach than seminars. Amendments 17 Proposer: Teresa (Italy) 4:05 Voting to approve a late Spanish Amendment: 15 votes, approved.

Friday 18th July: Organizing Committee Training and Candidates (Part 1)

1. Organizing Committee Training

10:00 Discussion about next WoCo hosting country Federico (Italy): During the summer Italy hotel prices are really high because of the vacation season. Samuel (Mexico): Many members of our committee are going into exchange so we do not have enough manpower to organize the WoCo, but we would like to organize WoCo in 2016. Indonesia: Indonesia will have support to host people but not in 2015, our university promised they will provide the support by 2016. Steven (Belgium): Maybe we could organize it in several European countries like a eurotrip. Damien: We need to have a really good communication to make WoCo a eurotrip. Slovenia: How do you plan to manage the transportation expenses. Damien: We could ask the EU to sponsor us and give us some rail tickets. Teresa: We could just visit 3 or 4 countries because it is going to be hard to organize so many committees from different European countries. Lisanne: We could talk with the FAO and maybe visit them in Rome. Federico: We could also visit the ExPo about agriculture, they could give us some sponsorship, we should consider making Milano ExPo a stop in the eurotrip. So far the proposal for the WoCo 2015 is to have several (3 or 4) countries to organize a part of the meeting around Europe.



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Francisco: Inter rail is the most efficient way to travel across Europe because it will be expensive to travel by bus because of the cost of gas. Lisanne: We could start WoCo at Belgium where the headquarters are and we have a strong committee there and they are involved enough to be able to host WoCo for a few days. Slovenia: Slovenia could host part of WoCo probably 5 days joining with Croatia. Federico: If the WoCo is made this way and we should have an international committee and a big budget. Steven: Which countries would you like to visit during the 2015 WoCo? Lisanne: We could start the trip at the Netherlands because it cheap to flight to there. Federico: The number of people that will attend to the WoCo must be taken into consideration. Teresa: I suggest the maximum number should be 100 Lisanne: We should limit the number of people that European committees can send to WoCo Cleo: It should be as early as possible, suggesting beginning of July because of the exams period. Steven: In the constitution it states that the WoCo should be organized in the last 2 weeks of July. Yahor: Funding should not be a problem if we organize well, we could apply to EU for support or some other organization. Cleo: The minimum days for every location should be at least 4 days otherwise we are just jumping around. Slovenia: We have a good chance to get money and support to host WoCo for 5 days. Francisco: Even if Spain is not in the planed route we could help gathering some funds. Lisanne: I propose the GA to be hosted at Germany because we could find cheap accommodation in comparison with the other countries. We should have like a member from every country to help with the organization. 10:55 Teressa: Let’s make a list of the tasks needed to organize WoCo so we can divide them. Federico: Through the University and IAAS Italy we could get a standing at Ex Po which we could use to get more funding. Amanda (Sweden): Interrail is only available to European residents. Rebbeca (Sweden): It will be hard to get the amount seats we need at Interrail. I propose we should rent a bus it would be better. Hai: Visas could be a problem because each country has different rules to grant them. Damien: There is no problem if you want to visit Switzerland if you are granted an EU visa you can travel all around Europe. Samuel: We must find a coordinator for the whole event. Tasks: Funding Transport Topics: 11:25 Discussion Italy: It will be good to have a topic according to the ExPo because it will allow us to get more funds. Teresa: Read the topics proposed by some members. Visa Feeding the planet Energy for life 11:47 After the members got their views of the proposed topic in accordance to the ExPo topic Francisco proposes the topic “Farming through Europe” Topic discussion will take place at other opportunity. Food Accommodation



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GA Activities Communication

2. EC & CC Candidates Presentation Appendix 3: ec_cc_candidates.pdf 12:00 EC.CC Candidates Presentation: Each candidate has 15:00 minutes for presentation and 5:00 minutes for questions.

Samuel Navarrete (Mexico) for President:

Indonesia: How do you plan to solve the problem that we had with the African Country? Response: I think we need to have communication all around the world. So we can improve how we respond to this kind of situation in our organization. Italy: How do you plan to promote more members to join our group? Response: The website is a problem because if you are trying to reach new members you need something to show them, we must have some ways to show our work. USA: What would be your main goals as President? Response: To have good communication. Obviously the financial part is also very important. So I would like to work on those main goals as soon as possible. 12:20

Oscar Dore (Benin) for VP of Communications: Presented by Hai.

Comments: Switzerland (Cleo): How is Oscar intending to solve the issues the organization has with African countries? *Would it be possible to see him on video? If he is going to be a VP of communication he should. Germany (Shafiqul): You have been holding many positions in Africa. What have you done recently to solve IAAS Africa problems? Belgium (Lisanne): Are you sure you are going to living at Lourve, Belgium ? 12:30

Barbara Umek(Slovenia) for VP of Finance

She is not sure if she can manage the position. She has been the VP of finance in Slovenia. She resigns as a candidate. Teresa: Speaks about how important this decision and position are for the organization. Yahor is applying to be in the CC but he also thinks about being a candidate to be the VP of finance. Damien: Yahor I would like to ask you what position you prefer. Yahor: It would be easy for me to continue to be the VP of Finance because I just graduated. Barbara: I think Yahor has made a really good job the past two years. And I would like to learn from him and maybe next year I will be better prepared to be a candidate. USA: If Yahor is elected for the CC position will he support Barbara as doing the work of the VP of finance. Teresa: If you are elected for a third term will you be able to live in Belgium? Yahor: Like I just said I just graduated so I’m looking for a place to do my master degree. But even If I can’t find one I could try to find a job in Belgium. Teresa: As a CC board member I must say that we are already at the GA. We must have clear who is applying to be the VP of Finance. Is there someone in the room who would like to apply for the position?

Lisanne Meulendijks(Netherlands) for VP of Communications



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Barbara: If you are talking in an informal way, how do you think you can communicate with people you like and dislike? Response: I plan to just use easy English not actually being informal. Cleo: Do you think it is wise to stop using the formal language to communicate? Response: Yes we must use formal language to make documents and stuff, but I’m just trying to be more open not just informal. Genna: How do you plan to improve communication with the African countries? Response: I think the best and probably the only way is via email. Damien: Have you considered the possibility of sending letters? Response: not actually, because of the effort and time it takes. I think it could not be practical.

Charlotte Soland (Switzerland) for VP of External Relations

Charlotte sent a video to present herself, after that she was reached via Skype. Teresa: Are you planning to move to Belgium if you were elected? Response: No I won’t be able to move there but I can travel when needed. Ines: What are your ideas to get in touch with companies and partners? Response: She is planning to make a presentation, also to create a database of graduated students if companies are interested. Federico: Which do you think are the most important problems when trying to raise money? Response: I haven’t spoken with Emilie about it but I think we can set up a meeting to discuss it.

Adesina Ebenezer (Nigeria) for VP of Exchange: Presented by Ekaterina

Voting to accept his candidature by the members Genna: Some of the Nigerian members have stated that Adesina stole the money to pay the member fee. But this has not being confirmed. 2:55 0 votes, rejected as candidate

Steven (Belgium) for VP of Exchange

Genna: How do you plan to work with the African countries? Response: I would like to contact the UN and other international organization so we can work better with those countries and help them have the opportunity to participate in exchange programs.

Alexandra Rieder (Switzerland) for CC Member

Genna: What does it make a good CC? Response: A good CC can work and follow the work done by the entire organization. Yahor: What projects do you think are the most important at IAAS? Response: The financial situation of the organization is critical.

Ratih Nawangwulan (Indonesia) for CC Member

Damien: What will be your task next year at a national level? Response: Currently I do not have any position at the national level. Genna: What makes a good CC? Response: Trying to work hard to solve all the problems we face.

Vincent Verdugt (Belgium) for CC Member



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Wednesday 23rd: EC Candidates (part 2) & National Reports/ DMA

1. Membership Review Part 2 Benin- Status reviewed again. They paid their membership dues. Voted full with 16 votes. Ghana- Candidate with 16 votes. Nigeria- Voted out with 13 votes. Rwanda- Full with 17 votes. Togo- Full with 17 votes. . Portugal- Frozen (but immediately Full upon the payment) 14 votes. Payment of 1500 euro membership fee for 2013/14 and 93 euros for the exchange fee. Spain- Paid their membership fee. Now full.

2. EC. CC Election

9:33 Genna shows the mails from Oscar All candidates are invited to come forward for the last question Motion from Chile: secret ballot (candidates leave the room) Elected are:

President: Samuel Navarette (Mexico)

VP of Finance: Yahor Vetlou (Belarus)

VP of External Relations: Charlotte Soland (Switzerland)

VP Exchange: Steven Adams (Belgium)

VP of Communication: Lisanne Meulendijks (Belgium)

Control Committee: Vincent Verdugt (Belgium), Alexandra Rieder (Switzerland), Ratih

Nawangwulan (Indonesia)

10:20 Genna close the EC.CC election, and give a brief speech.

Applause for Genna’s engagement as a president.

3. WoCo 2016

10:23

Indonesia presents its proposal as host of IAAS WoCo 2016

Question and Answers:



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1. Cleophea: Will it get along with hosting also the Asia Pacific Regional Meeting? How about

the members?

Jajang: No, we hope another IAAS in Asia like Thailand will also come. Members in Indonesia

are many, we are proposing to host the WoCo 2016 in Bogor Agricultural University. We had

a lot of discussion with the rector and director of the university. They are willing to help and

want to have an international event in their university.

2. Genna: how could you explain the political stability in your country?

Ratih: we just have our new president, he´s a good leader. We can assure we will have a

stable political condition in the next 5 years.

3. Steven: is it hard to get the visa?

Ratih: no, our ministry of tourism is very welcome. We can cooperate with the government

for that.

Mexico presents its proposal as host of IAAS WoCo 2016

Question and Answers:

1. Genna: how could you explain the political stability in your country? And how about the visa?

Political is kinda special but the Queretaro is a safe city, the political stability won´t be a

issue. We are stable now and you don´t need visa to visit Mexico except Africa. We can fix

what happened in the last DMA.

2. Cleophea: would it be feasible to you, and how about the members of IAAS Mexico?

In January 2015 a lot of our members going for internship but we hope we are able to host

the WoCo in 2016.

Discussion time for 3 minutes.

3. Lisanne: How about visa for African countries?

Indonesia (Ratih and Jajang): I have attended an international conference where a lot of

African came, and as long as they will go back to their country, there is no problem.

Mexico (Samuel): I remember the problem in ADM, the problem is not the visa but the

problem is they don’t have embassy in every country so they need to go to another country´s

embassy to get the visa.

Secret vote conducted.

11:09 Vote for the IAAS WoCo 2016 host Result: The host of IAAS WoCo 2016 is Indonesia

4. WoCo 2015

11:10 Lisanne start the session of WOCO 2015 plan Europe will be the candidate of the host of WOCO 2015.



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Discussion will be occurred tomorrow. 11:15 IAAS Topic 2014-2015

Facing global free trade from an agricultural perspective

Traditional farming in the middle of modernization

Developing global farming based on local resource utilization

Organic farming / automated farming (Drone-like technology)

Sustainable green power for feeding the future

Discussion:

Genna: The topic that is being discussed now is for the IAAS 2014-2015 year not the WoCo.

Lucas: Why we do this? It’s nice to have a topic but for me it’s a loss of time to work on the IAAS

organization not choosing a name. We have better stuff to do.

Genna: Lucas are you proposing a new topic to be added to our list?

Paco: What is the implication of choosing a name?

Genna: It’s just kind of a tradition and some events made by the regional committees are related

with the topic previously selected.

Yahor: I want to mention we choose a topic to get the grant to get the European Union

Lucas: Yes it may be important to have a good name but it is also important to work to secure the

future of the organization.

Moderator (Damien): I Think you are confused. If you want to add a topic to the discussion it can be

added.

Genna: I would like to propose a break of 5-10 minutes to talk and think about the name.

12:01

15 members present, Chile and Serbia are missing.

Genna: The topic of the year could be defined as a slogan we show to sponsors and the working goals

Barbara: I have an idea because of the Lucas comment we should be engaged in the organization.

Also I think that sustainability is an overused term. Propose: Youth Engagement for … (added

in front of all the topics.).

Lucas: If we choose organic as our topic big sponsors as Monsanto could have some conflicts.

Paco: We should not be focused with sponsors who are that controversial for some people.

12:10

Voting: IAAS Engagement for … (added in front of all the topics.).

Results: 14 votes, approved. 12:15 Voting: Select IAAS topic 2014.2015 Proposals Results: Youth Engagement for Developing Global Farming Based on Local Resourse Utilization. 12:20



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Italy Proposal: We Italy want to make and amendment to change some of the past discussions but he needs the voting to make it possible to change and amendment number ten (10). 12:26 Voting about allowing the Italy Proposal: 17 votes accepted

5. Limiting trainer time

Italy proposes to state in the amendment that the trainers should not be allowed to be elected for more than 3 years. Cleophea: There are many trainers who have been working for many years. Steven: I agree with Cleophea, we have a successful relation with alumni members (alumni for over 5 years) to train the new members. It would not be good for IAAS Belgium to have this rule. Federico: It is about travel costs. IAAS Italy does not agree to pay everything for e.g. 10 years. Lisanne: let´s then limit the payment for 3 years. Genna: Why exactly for 3 years? Federico: After 3 years, the person becomes a trainer. Sebastian: proposal to make it 3 years after becoming a trainer, not just alumni. Genna: Resume: conversation about how long someone can be a trainer. Lisanne asks about changing it for only limit coming up for the travel costs for 3 years. Lisanne: Change of my proposal to 3 events rather than 3 years being paid the travel expenses. Yahor: comment: change it to the amount paid and not the amount of training or time. Federico: Italy prefers the Belgium version (Lisanne’s proposal) Genna: not very relevant for IAAS. Not in danger of having a monopoly on the trainings, but knowledge transfer is more important than restrictions. Steven: agrees with Genna. Damien: asks to keep the original version and make further changes on a national level. Voting: 5 votes for proposal 3 (Italy and Belgium). Original proposal remains. Genna as the vote counter calls for a revote. Revote: 5 votes for proposal 3 (Italy and Belgium). Original proposal remains.

6. National Reports Appendix 3: ec_cc_candidates.pdf

3:30 Belgium National Committee report presented by Steven 3:40 Chile National Committee report presented by Lucas Yahor: What is the amount of Exchange fee if I want to be a member of IAAS chile Lucas: 24 dollars per year 3:55 Germany National Committee report presented by Genna 4:02 Indonesia National Committee report presented by Elsa 4:14 Italy National Committee report presented by Federico 4:30 Mexico National Committee report presented by Samuel 4:39 Russia National Committee report presented by Ekaterina 4:45



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Tajikistan National Committee report presented by Murodjov 5:01 Slovenia National Committee report presented by Barbara 5:08 Spain National Committee report presented by Francisco 5:17 Sweden National Committee report presented by Sara 5:23 Guatemala National Committee report presented by Jennifer and translated by Samuel Genna: How did you get started working with the communities Jennifer:We made an agreement with the help of the communities and our University 5:30 USA National Committee report presented by Lisa Damien: Closes the session of the GA.

7. DMA 10:23 Chile, USA, Mexico, and Guatemala present Discussion of who is running for Board of Americas and the structure of Board of Americas There will now be a Regional Director, Co-directors of Communications and Recruitment, and Control Committee Member Mikayla Sullivan elected as Regional Director Amanda Alfonso Herrera and Chaneen Haler elected as Co-directors of Communications and Recruitment Daniela Hernandez elected as Control Committee Member Discussion about upcoming year: Where will DMA be held? – This will be decided by October: options include Costa Rica, Chile, and USA- Oregon during National Summit Creation of a constitution for the Americas Region. – will be worked on throughout the year and be presented at DMA

Thursday 24th: State of 3 Year Strategy & Create 1 Year Strategy & Member Development 10:28 Damien opens the sessions of Voting on Amendments. 15 countries are present. Major Changes Article 16.12 Exchange Program Participant List – 11 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 3.4.1 General Assembly Partial Voting Rights – 15 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 7.1 7 hour/week EC Work Requirement – 5 votes, amendment is not passed.

Article 7.11.12 Approval of EC Reports – 11 votes, amendment is passed.

Motion from Paco: Add the 0% if someone quits.

Motion is passed with 11 votes.

ANNEX III IAAS World Best Practices – 15 votes, amendment is passed.



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Aricles 7.1.12 IAAS Standard Operating Procedure – 15 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 7.6 IAAS Webmaster Position – 4 votes, amendment is not passed.

Article 11.2.4 Membership Fee for Ex-Co Meeting OC –12 votes, amendment is passed.

Medium Changes

Article 1.6 Spanish as a Second Working Language – 8 votes, amendment is not passed.

Article 2.2.1 Membership Application Time Period – 13 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 5.2 Origin of Control Committee Members – 12 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 7.5 VP of Exchange Organises ExCo Meeting – 15 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 8.1.6 CC Oversight of Inactive EC Members – 14 votes, amendment is passed.

Minor Changes

Article 4.5 Clarification of PhD Student Membership – 13 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 4.2; 7.3; 7.4; 10.6; 12.15 Vice President of “Partnership” – 13 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 5.3.1 Alumni as Trainers –14 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 7.13.2 Assessment Period of 3 Year Strategy – 13 votes, amendment is passed

Article 12.3 Language Committee – 15 votes, amendment is passed.

Article 4.2 Mistake in constitution about long term planning – 15 votes, amendment is passed.

Miscellaneous

Fundraising Position – 1 vote, amendment is not passed.

Typing and numbering mistakes – 15 votes, amendment is passed.

1. State of 3 year strategy Presentation of the 3 year strategy, no further discussion as it will not be changed.

2. 1 year strategy

12:00 One Year Strategy 17 countries are present. Topics for 1 year strategy:

Partnership and Finance: 1. Implementing the website to attract sponsors 2. Attract sponsors with social media (ex: facebook) 3. Develop sponsorship materials modifiable by committee 4. Strengthening partnership to provide more member opportunities

Communication: 1. Global coordination of agricultural events in local committees (ex: world food day) 2. Involvement of African countries 3. Strengthen Expro and increasing visibility to members 4. Improving communication between committees (ex: calendar of all events)

Administration: 1. Translation of the website (removed)



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2. Universal Template for Member certification (removed) 3. Strengthening committees

12:15 Discussion on Theme of 1 year strategy

International Building Blocks for IAAS 12:18 Vote for Theme – 16 votes. The theme for 1 year strategy is “International Building Blocks for IAAS” 12:19 Discussion for topic selection Topics divided on 3 parts, they are partnership and finance, communication, administration. Damien proposes motion to remove the 1st topic on administration (Translation of all documentation into Spanish). 17 votes, motion passed and the topic removed. Damien proposes motion to remove the 2nd topic on administration (Universal Template for Member certification) 15 votes, motion passed and the topic removed.

3. Member development Outdoor Speed Dating Session: To involve every present member in a constructive process of brainstorming, collecting ideas and developing solutions, a speed dating has been carried out. The participants had to pair up three times into different groups and discuss over 7 minutes a given question. Afterwards, the written down ideas have been collected and summarized. The three questions: 1. How to get stable and reliable African IAAS chapters? 2. How to achieve a better global involvement? 3. Sponsoring Strategies I. For stable and reliable African IAAS sections

Personal connections: o Telephone communication instead of skype (due to bad internet connectivity) o ExPro exchange o Attend their events and vice versa o Exchange newsletters to see their activites

Support: o Provide training (fundraising, organising, finances, ...) o Godfather partnerships o Involve international organisations locally present

Trust: o Clear rules o Attatchment to university o Represent spirit of IAAS o Solid financial reports o Contact to person in charge at university

II. Better global involvement

Personal relations:



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o Visit from EC/CC o Address them after WoCo o Push them more to get involved/join o Invite potential new section members

Support: o More than one language (e.g. also Spanish) o Better development fund o Ease VISA affairs

General: o Spread more info about international events o Less emphasis on European countries o Make IAAS more known and visible o Better networking with other student organisation to join forces.

III. Sponsoring Strategies

Structures: o Coordination on local, national and international levels with a clear strategy o Specific instead of general fundings o Establish network o Clear structures about what they get (packages) o Database -> overview o Prepared materials by VP ER

Strategies: o Crowdfunding o Main sponsors (neutral sponsor), long term contact o Alumni o Specific instead ofgeneral funding o Invite sponsors to our events o Partnership with airline company or e.g. star alliance, one world o More support from universities o Give sponsors possibility to end info about them o Charity events o Projects in developing countries -> developing funds o Use more globalnetworking possibilities o Personal member fee o Use webpage better

Next part of this session was the discussion about the website. Brainstorming:

New website – contact EGEA?

IAAS Member payed/for free

Who knows Joomla?

Priority: professional website fulltime and fast train IAAS member to maintain it.

Stay attractive to students

Savings finance webpage

Database linked to webpage



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Every committee and member should help to financethe webpage.

Carried unanimously, it has been decided that:

1 webpage with all committees in it + 1 layout

VP communication same country as webmaster 1st year Belgium (Leuven)

International Member-Based Projects Appendix 4: international member based projects.pdf

WoCo 2015 13 votes, WoCo 2015 will be held in Europe, different countries. Coordinator: Damien Tschopp Report of General Assembly 2013 has been approved with 13 votes. 18:13 Genna closes General Assembly 2014

30th July 2014: GA reopened to discuss the 2014-2015 IAAS Budget 20:06 Genna reopens the GA to approve budget for 2014/15 Following countries are present: Indonesia Germany Mexico Italy USA

Switzerland Chile Spain Sweden Belgium

Discussion about budget presented by Yahor is opened. Sweden: is 5000 Euros sponsored realistic? Yahor: Yes if sponsors are being approached. Proposal OC members WoCo 2015: Motion: There will be a travel budget for the board members to meet up, around 500 Euros. It will be included in the WoCo 2015 budget and needs to be returned if possible. 20:30 10 votes for approval of this motion. 20:33 Genna: Set the amount of money the CC is going to get for traveling from Switzerland to 250 euros. 10 votes, approved. Steven: Does the phone cost include the mobile phone? Yahor: We only used this once to pay a bill of the headquarters phone. Genna: Maybe the money could be used to pay for a premium Skype account. Shafiquil: Noticed and corrected a mathematical error. 20:40 Lucas about costs for printing: Where is the money going to end if you won’t print it. Yahor: That money is not exactly for printing. Paco: What happens if we don’t get the 500 euros of sponsorship.



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Yahor: We usually never use the whole budget. Steven: What is the difference between supporting projects and events? Yahor: Projects are different they include a wider outline. Voting approve the budget for the 2014-2015 period. 10 votes, approved. 21:00 Session is closed.

Documents

Minutes of the General Assembly 2014